Saturday, March 28, 2015

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

One organization that is appealing to me is the National Education Association (NEA).  “They believe it is a common sense investment we cannot afford to pass up” (NEA).  They are devoted to refining early childhood education and I believe they can provide great insight and resources to helping my challenge of figuring out ways to bring aboard high-quality teachers within the preschool level so that these children are getting the necessary knowledge to move into grade school.  There are many job opportunities within the National Education Association.  “NEA’s 3 million members work at every level of education , from pre-school to university graduate programs and has affiliate organizations in every state and in more than 14,000 communities across the United States” (NEA).  I saw a Manager D position that looks of interest to me.  For this position, the minimum education is a bachelor’s as well as a minimum of 10 years professional lobbying and political action organizing experience.  Experience must include political campaign work, grassroots organizing, as well as project and crisis management.
Another organization that is attractive to me is the Division for Early Childhood (DEC).  I chose this organization because they are for helping develop young children who may possibly have developing interruptions and disabilities.  “DEC is an international membership organization for those who work with or on behalf of young children (0-8) with disabilities and other special needs and their families” (Division for Early Childhood).  A job that interests me within this organization is an Early Childhood Education Instructor (full time).  For this position it is required to have a bachelor’s or masters in child development or early childhood education with sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability, and ethnic backgrounds of community college students.  The skills needed are having classroom responsibility, understanding of evaluating students, and understanding of curriculum knowledge, and student advising.
A third organization that is of interest to me is WestEd.  “A nonprofit research and development agency working at the national, state, and local levels, WestEd aims to improve education and other important outcomes for children, youth and adults” (WestEd, 2011).  Any organization that is about the improvement of education and enlightening the future of all, grasps my attention faithfully.  One job that I found of interest with in the WestEd organization is an Associate Program Director.  For this position I would need to possess the skills of writing proposals, manage work and have the technical skills that make the work better.  I must be able to motivate and manage project teams involved in research and consulting work on assessment methods and systems.  This would actually be a dream job for me being that they are looking for someone with tons of experience with this job being so complex.


References
National Education Association.  (n.d.).  Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/home/18163.htm
The Division for Early Childhood.  (n.d.).  Retrieved from http://www.dec-sped.org
WestEd.  (2011).  Retrieved from http://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm

3 comments:

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  2. Carlos,

    You have investigated three very interesting organizations. With your current experience working with children and youth and managing teams, I can see you working in a leadership capacity at WestEd. What qualifications are expected for the position? Also, if you had to choose one of the three positions, which one would be most appealing to you?

    I feel that the knowledge and CoP that we have acquired at Walden University has appropriately positioned us for the challenges of leadership in the early childhood field. I wish you well in your future endeavors. I am quite sure that you will continue to grow and learn in any leadership position that you choose.

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  3. Hello Carlos,
    Thank you for introducing us to these organizations, I never heard of the first two organizations. I understand why you were drawn to these jobs positions, they seem interesting and it can give you a sense of belonging and doing good things for other. I noticed that in one of the job’s requirement you need to have at least 10 years’ experience before applying. Do you think that they should give the applicant a chance to prove her/himself even though she/he does not have the experience, at least for six or one year? I mean, I know that most jobs required you to have experience, but how can you get real experience if no one is willing to give you a chance? What do you think, should they try first or they should be organizations that can teach you that?

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